Alla får vara med! : En undersökning om ungdomars delaktighet i biblioteksverksamheten

Public libraries have begun to realize that they must try to develop the youth department, youth participation, and event planning in order to create an attractive meeting place youths can see as a resource in their lives. Librarians have also begun to realize that the youth department needs more space than it had before and preferably to not integrate youths with children, because youths would like to be seen as individuals and developing adults. Libraries also realize that they need to ask the youth what they want and need out of their library experience to make youth libraries a competing force and an advocate for youth development.The purpose of this paper was to investigate how youth librarians work with young individuals to make them involved in the library. The study is based on the theory of Positive Youth Development (PYD), which is centered on the need for young people to build relationships, feel involved, and feel needed to develop into well-rounded, healthy, and active individuals of society. The theory is based on previous research in various areas of youth development, compiled in order to build a clear and unified theory. For the gathering of empirical material, a qualitative method was used in which interviews were conducted with eight librarians in five libraries across Sweden.The results showed that youth librarians want to work with youths to improve their libraries and to be a resource for young library users. Most youth librarians are passionate about their jobs and wish to include youths in the planning and performing of library activities, as well as listen to their requests in issues about the library facilities, and they want to build a genuine connection with the youths both inside and outside of the libraries, as well as on social media platforms. However, youth librarians face difficulties in making these requests into reality; having to work against issues as the opinions of youths as problems shared by the adult public and other librarians, as well as working with a group as diverse as youths

Perceived exertion, comfort and working technique in professional computer users and associations with the incidence of neck and upper extremity symptoms.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate whether perceived exertion, perceived comfort and working technique is associated with the incidence of neck and upper extremity symptoms among professional computer users. METHODS: At baseline a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 853 participants from 46 different work sites (382 men and 471 women) who, at baseline, had been free from neck and upper extremity symptoms during the preceding month. Work-related exposures, individual factors, and symptoms from the neck and upper extremities were assessed. Observations of working technique were performed by ergonomists using an ergonomic checklist. Incidence data were collected by means of 10 monthly questionnaires, asking for information on the occurrence of neck, shoulder and arm/hand symptoms. Perceived exertion was rated on a modified Borg RPE scale ranging from 0 (very, very light) to 14 (very, very strenuous). Perceived comfort was rated on a 9-point scale ranging from -4 (very, very poor) to +4 (very, very good) in relation to the chair, computer screen, keyboard, and computer mouse. RESULTS: The median follow up time was 10.3 months. The incidence of symptoms from the neck, shoulders and arm/hands were 50, 24 and 34 cases per 100 person years, respectively.Higher perceived exertion in the neck, shoulder or arm/hands was associated with an increased risk of developing symptoms in the corresponding body region. Moreover, a dose-response relationship between the level of exertion and the risk of developing symptoms was recorded for all three regions. There was an association between low comfort and an increased risk for neck symptoms, but not for shoulder and arm/hand symptoms, although a trend towards such an association (not statistically significant) could be seen. Working technique was, in this study, not associated with the risk of developing symptoms in any of the investigated body regions. CONCLUSION: There was a strong association between high perceived exertion and the development of neck, shoulder, and arm/hand symptoms. Moreover, there was an association between poor perceived comfort and neck pain. Surveillance of computer users may include perceived exertion and comfort to target individuals at risk for neck and upper extremity symptoms